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Pope Names Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Roman Catholic Church A Basilica

Pope Benedict XVI recently bestowed the designation of basilica on the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Roman Catholic Church, an honor that carries certain privileges, including a name change reflecting the Southampton Village church’s new status.

Monsignor Jeffrey Madley, the pastor of the Hill Street parish, said it will become the first basilica in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which includes 133 Catholic churches in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The church will be renamed the Basilica of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, following a special celebration likely to be held in the spring, according to Monsignor Madley, who was granted the papal-bestowed title of monsignor around this time last year. The papal coat of arms will be displayed over the church’s front door, and the papal canopy—used for papal processions—will be placed on display inside the church, as will a special bell that is traditionally rung before a papal visit.

“It’s an honor for the community and the parish and the people who took care of this church for over 100 years and kept it in good shape” the priest said, explaining that the church earned this distinction because of its historical significance. It was built in 1907 using castaway marble blocks from the New York Public Library, he noted.

Sacred Hearts will become the 70th minor basilica in the United States, the priest said. Minor basilicas are those Catholic churches outside Rome that have been granted this honor. There are about 2,000 basilicas worldwide, he said.

Bishop William Murphy of the diocese had decided to apply for the honor, Monsignor Madley said.

Bishop Murphy informed Monsignor Madley of the news on Friday, and the bishop announced the news to parishioners during the 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Masses on Sunday.

It IS a beautiful church and quite an honor to be named a basilica especially since there are only 70 in the entire U.S. I love looking at the wood above the pews and spotting the green shamrocks put there by the Irish immigrants who were responsible for the church being built. For those who don't know the story, apparently the wealthy summer people petitioned the bishop to allow the church to be built because they were having trouble getting their Irish servants to come out for the summer since ...morethere was no local Catholic church to attend. And supposedly the Irish servants paid for it to be built and, obviously, they did not stint. I suspect our newest wave of Catholic immigrants, our hispanic neighbors, will leave behind a very special legacy of their own. Probably not a building but something that will enrich us all. The diversity will help keep the Catholic Church vibrant and open to new traditions, I hope.

My grandfather was a master stone mason from Italy, and moved here to work on the construction of Sacred Hearts. Our dad, also a master stone mason, volunteered his time during the restoration of the church undertaken during the 80's. It is very beautiful and this recognition honors the effort of all those who have worked to maintain it over the years.

It's not unique. The interior is like several others I've seen with the same style of painted decorations on wood beams. The pictures behind the altar are exactly the same as a large church in Montreal so I would guess they were sold to churches all over North America.
Perhaps the article when it appears in the paper will explain what makes this church in a small community qualify as a basilica?

Far be it from me to introduce an extraneous subject to the thread. However, since the topic of p,d. salaries and overtime has been raised (twice) by prior posters, I feel obliged to reply.

This week, the editor of the OTHER East End newspaper (the independent one) expressed his shock at the extraordinary complacency of the Southampton Town Council in acceding to Chief Wilson's repeated request for more overtime money. After noting that some of the STPD cops are making THREE TIMES the ...morestate average, the editor posed the question of what the Council's response would have been if another department head like Alex Gregor had asked for a few more hundred thousand dollars for the last few months of the year. The editor also ponders whether this end-of-year overtime largess is aimed at padding the salary of retiring cops (a traditional procedure to boost their retirement checks) and/or is an effort by the new chief to win over STPD cops who might have opposed his appointment.

He is someone that has a pretty good idea of the working of the police department but he is happy to do nothing about it except post provocative items on 27east. Its called anonymous notoriety and it is not healthy. Because as much as he posts, nothing gets changed. A real ''do'er'' is someone who takes the knowledge and takes strides do make an improvement. Miser loves company. What you are seeing are desperate attempts to ''make company'' but nobody is really nibbling at the hook. Over the ...morepast couple of years, it has gotten more biting but the reaction has been identical. Goes to show you that even when pointing out inside information that could be acted upon, if you don't share it in an honorable way with integrity, its just noise.

He has NO inside information on the police department. He is, over and over again corrected on his misguided assumptions. He will blame mistake and mistatements on information posted by others. He is nothing but a lap dog for an egomaniac of a Police Commissioner. He would soil himself if he had to spend a day as a cop.

This article is about the church, it is so lame and pathetic that this police conversation comes up in EVERY article. Freedom of Speech fine but it is annoying to the people who care about whatever the topic is at hand. Start a blog or something so if people actually care they can follow your rants instead of forcing people to hear you carry on this completely unrelated ranting wherever you can.

It has been justifiably noted that the my principle topic of interest on this forum is the STPD. That being said, my avatar is unique; if you don't wish to read my comments, skip the posts prefaced by the mustachioed caricature.

As ...morefor the STPD, their behavior and their pay remains the 2000 pound gorilla of Southampton Town. The Council has recently taken the first tentative steps in its history to rein them in (by bribing six overstaying SOE officers with $$25K+ apiece to accept retirement according to Town Code without bringing suit, and by forcibly retiring two overstaying PBA officerts [suits to follow].), but, as was noted by another poster, nothing has changed (as shown by Chief Wilson's extraordinary requests for MORE MONEY.) The STPD still considers itself sui generis among town departments, immune to concerns of performance and budget that bedevil other, lesser departments of the Town.

By comparison, bestowal by the Pope of a ceremonial title to the local Catholic Church, or problems picking up leaves, or whom the Shinnecocks select to manage their casino development are trivial in importance. Keeping the phenomena of the STPD at the forefront of people's consciousness is simple good citizenship.

When one lives in a community wherein the cops have leave to harass citizens at will (vide the Linda Kabot bogus DWI), the only means available to criticize them without becoming the subject of illegal arrest is by anonymous "broadside". The Founding Fathers used it as a revolutionary tool and I can think of no better bunch of guys to emulate.

My apologies to those who are annoyed by my post. I can only suggest that, in future, you adhere to the advice that I gave ahhhndrea

Despite repeated advice to the contrary, you are still reading my posts. How many different ways can I phrase it. Here's another attempt, "See graphic, skip text." The same advice pertains to all readers of similar disposition. None need feel "forced" to read. (Masochists, welcome.)

I would like to point out, again, that it was not "I" who introduced the topic of police salaries and overtime into this thread. Others opened the door.

As you can see, between the dashes, the caps, the quotes, the exclamation points all of it point to a loner who is getting off on this, this quote above, a 2am this morning points to a pathos that has now evolved from the infrequent comment on stories about police departments to over very colorful and animated posts about the police on every story whether its relevant or not. We call this sinking deeper into one's own fiction. It would seem wise to simply ignore HHS but what would happen is this ...morewould cause him so much frustration that we would soon be actually reading about him on page 2 of the Press. All kidding aside, I think we should begin to come together and get HHS some help, and I am not kidding. He needs to see that the police department would actually help him if he had been hurt or victimized. Somewhere along the way, he was harmed fiscally or personally by the police. We all have opinions, but obsessive, self important, pathological antagonism mean to draw readers into his false conversation begins to indicate a less then healthy individual. At the current rate of amplification, his guy will be outted soon enough, by his own recklessness.

Yet another post containing nothing other than ad hominem disparagement (couched disingenuously as "concern".) Will you ever make a substantive comment with assertions that can be compared to reality?

Nevertheless, I DID enjoy the post. Slipping a shiv in someone's back while holding his had compassionately is an art. Granted, your intent was obvious but the scope of your canvas was limited. With a longer narrative, your story would probably have been more compelling.

1) The fault of all the excessive overtime in the P.D. is because there are only 90 police officers and there needs to be about 96. The town board reviewed past history and found that overtime is in line the amount of overtime generated years ago when manpower fell to this level. The town board is creating the overtime by not hiring enough officers and then acting surprised when overtime is generated. They knew when they created the budget the numbers were a sham. 2) Nobody in the department ...moremade three times the state average. Not even close. You can check out the actual total pay of every person on sites such as "seethroughny"3) The people getting overtime are patrol officers filling patrol cars, not the senior officers who are retiring.4) If Alex Gregor asked for overtime to clean up after a large snow storm or something out of his control, I believe the board would approve his request also.

This started with a wonderful story about Sacred Hearts Church and the great honor it has received. Let's be thankful for that and for living in a community that includes such a beautiful church. The Police issue, though relavent, does not belong here. All of you who use the wrong forum to have your wishes read are truly selfish. You know that if you started your own blog no one would read it. Please keep out of other's discussions.

Maybe the reas problem is the heavy amount of dischord in society lately. It just manages to pervade in almost everything, and some of us (HHS) allow it to. You should have just let the idiots talk smack, without a word.

Things aren't going what one would call "spectacularly" these days, and I guess it shows sometimes...

Maybe the reas problem is the heavy amount of dischord in society lately. It just manages to pervade in almost everything, and some of us (HHS) allow it to. You should have just let the idiots talk smack, without a word.

Things aren't going what one would call "spectacularly" these days, and I guess it shows sometimes...

Maybe the reas problem is the heavy amount of dischord in society lately. It just manages to pervade in almost everything, and some of us (HHS) allow it to. You should have just let the idiots talk smack, without a word. "Turn the other cheek", y'know?

Things aren't going what one would call "spectacularly" these days, and I guess it shows sometimes...

WOW how wonderful for the dynamic Catholic community in and around Southampton. This designation is a distinguishing honor and the parishioners, Msgr Madley, Bishop Murphy and all local believers should take pride in this recognition from Rome.

It is a most beautiful local church and we thank you for taking such good care of it. Congratulations!